Pages

December 8, 2015

There's Nothing Like Some 1970's COK!

Oh jeez, get your filthy minds out of the gutter. In this case of course we're talking about Cream of Kentucky bourbon. We figured we'd continue our drool-worthy holiday run of reviews with a vintage dusty American classic.

Our boy Ari hooked up this bottle. How to describe Ari??? Basically Ari is Jew you don't want to fuck with. He's got a basement full of dusty American whiskey, a custom made tomahawk with a Jewish star etched into the blade, and a certain set of skills. This dude will kill you, and then give you CPR and bring you back to life just so he can kill you again. He'll do all this with a crystal cut glass of COK in his hand. Yeah, that just about sums it up.

1970’s Cream of Kentucky (40%)

Cream of Kentucky was a label created by Colonel Albert Bacon Blanton, one of the pioneers of what's now the Buffalo Trace Distillery, and the namesake of Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon. The tag-line "Double Rich" was the inspiration for a long run of awesome campy print ads.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Not a powerful nose, but what comes through is a dry spiciness with some kind of musty tones, palm oils, a little Pledge-like floor cleaner thing going on, and some cloves.

Palate: This is a nice straight ahead high-rye bourbon. Not a ton of complexity here, but a very nice drinker. While we still love our big monster ryes like willett/Rittenhouse/Handy, this is a treat. It’s smooth yet flavorful. Definitely surprising that this was the quality of the standard issue mid-shelf ryes they were putting out at the time.

Review

Well by today's standards this wouldn't really qualify as "Double Rich". At 40% it's definitely light. On the other hand, they really don't make 'em like this anymore. It's got a wonderful musty dry spice that lingers on the tongue. There's no mistaking this for a modern-day bottle. The rye notes are out front with a nice light spiciness going on, with a nice backdrop of sweet and (ok a little rich!) bourbon. We could see, before nut jobs like us were on the scene drinking 130 proof monsters straight out of the barrel, how this would have been exactly how most people liked their whiskey. Flavorful, light, extremely drinkable, and with a sort of antique-y elegance that makes it a real treat.